Last time, I mentioned that in the foreign trade of the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was a special group of "general affairs", because the two dynasties dealt with them differently, and the effect was completely different.

The status of the "Tongshi" was second only to the merchants, and its main duties were to transmit the relevant laws and regulations of the Qing Dynasty government to foreign merchants, clear customs and tax declarations, register the entry and exit of ships, and issue licenses, and at the same time supervise foreign merchants in Guangzhou, manage compradors, and pass on the orders of the Qing government to the governor of Macao.

The specific duties of the "generals" are as follows: First, because "foreign ships come to China every year to trade, they all anchor in the provincial capital of Huangpu to listen to the tax collection and inspection of goods by the Guangdong Customs." ”所以，当外国船只来到黄埔后，他们就要陪同海关官员到船上，“检查货物，替税吏们填写税表，呈报海关监督衙门以被登记，以及后期征税。 ”

The "generals" also have to apply for permits for unloading and loading on their behalf, go through various customs clearance procedures, and manage the accounts of tax bills. If the merchants needed to enter the city, "the merchants and generals in charge reported the names of the merchants and their entourages to the magistrates, and the ministers and the overseers checked and checked the yamen, and exercised diligent control, so that traitors were not allowed to enter and leave the Yiguan, and make friends and lure." "Because the entire Ming Dynasty has been exhausted by pirates, pirates, and ghosts for two or three hundred years, it must be strictly controlled!

另外，清政府对洪仁辉事件的调查结果中有一项是：“其验轿银七钱，据家人、书办七十三等验供，验货之日或遇天雨，通事代雇轿子。 It can be seen from this that in the process of traveling between Guangzhou and Whampoa, the lives of the officials must be taken care of by the general affairs. Second, in the city of Guangzhou, the Qing government's relevant regulations on foreign businessmen were also translated into foreign languages by the "general affairs" and then conveyed to foreigners.

For example, foreigners in Guangzhou, "whenever there is a festive season and when the ship is returning to the port, they must use a number of cannons to promote the city." The Qing government, however, banned the use of artillery on inland rivers, because it would not only disturb the people and cause disorder, but also represent contempt for the majesty of the government.

此外，有关需要外国人传递给海外华人的官府法令，也由“通事”翻译成外文后，交给在广州的外国人。 For example, in 1717, the Kangxi Emperor forbade Chinese to trade in Nanyang, and in order to let overseas Chinese know, "ordered foreign merchants and generals to inform Yi merchants of the prohibition in the interior and ordered them to return to China." Third, the "general secretary" was responsible for transmitting the provisions of the petitions of the foreign Taipan in Canton and the foreign ships in Whampoa.

According to the regulations of the Qing government, if a foreigner in Macao needs to make a request, he should first be informed by the "Yimu" of the "Haiphong Tongzhi", and then the "Haiphong Tongzhi" will tell the "customs supervision". Fourth, the "general affairs" had to assist the government in supervising foreign businessmen in Guangzhou.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, with the development of foreign trade, "there were no less than thousands of foreign merchants in Guangdong, although there were many people who inspected the civil and military personnel, and instructed the merchants and general affairs to inspect." ”且“如夷商有置买货物必须出行，该通事、行商亦必亲自随行，如敢故纵出入，滋生事端以及作奸犯科，酌其情事重轻，分别究拟斥革。 It shows that the government may punish the inaction of the "general matter" at any time.

而且，外国人在广州日常生活也要由“通事”来陪伴，“在馆居住夷人，只准于每月初八、十八、廿八三日在附近之华地海幢寺散游一次，每次不得超过十人，限申刻回馆，不准在外住歇饮酒，打入非应准出游日期，及同游至十人以外，并赴别处村落虚市游荡，将行商、通事一并治罪。 It shows that the government is very strict with foreigners.

其五，监督在广州同外国人有联系的行外商人和内地商人。 With the development of Sino-foreign trade, Guangzhou's foreign merchants gradually became an important force in foreign trade. This shows that in the early Qing Dynasty, there had been "private smuggling" and "tax evasion" in Sino-foreign trade.

In order to curb the development of businessmen outside the bank, it is stipulated that reliable traders must be sent to the merchant hall to inspect whether there are any shops who come to trade with Europeans. The government "obliges the general affairs and business forces to inspect and prohibit them, and if they dare to indulge, they shall be punished together with those who are employed and enlisted." Strictly investigate smuggling and tax evasion.

Since the Ming Dynasty government did not systematically manage the "general affairs", they caused great harm to the society. The first is Yasan the "Fire One". "The third servant emperor was very arrogant, from driving into the capital, living in the same hall, seeing the governor Liang Zhuo, not bending his knees, blanching, and sticking. Bin Da criticized and said: 'He often frolicks with the Son of Heaven, and is he willing to kneel to your petty officials?'" 这造成了明朝内部大臣之间关系的紧张，于是再明武宗死驾崩，亚三被正法了。

Yasan's actions had a negative impact on the Portuguese envoys, and caused the final defeat of the Portuguese envoys to the Ming Dynasty, and Yasan could not escape the blame. 后来，“通事”李叶荣“敢于触禁私通，以接济牟利”以致“红夷（此处指英国人）突如其来，迁延时日”。

Li Yerong changed the letters of the Ming court to the British privately, causing an armed conflict between China and Britain. In the Qing Dynasty, with the strengthening of the country's foreign policy, "general affairs" became an important part of the public banking system, which had to be filled by the official government, and became a special group of "semi-official" people responsible for Chinese and foreign affairs. However, the "generalists" also had a certain negative impact on the foreign policy of the Qing Dynasty.

First of all, the trade system for the supply of supplies for foreigners was disrupted. In the public banking system, the comprador of the merchant house was responsible for the daily necessities of foreigners in the Guangzhou merchant house, and the comprador on board the ship was responsible for the supplies of foreigners on the Whampoa ship. Since the Ming Dynasty, these have been explicitly stipulated by the imperial court.

However, with the rapid increase in the trade of foreigners in China, huge profits could be made from the trade in supplies. Thus, in the first decade of the 19th century, customs officials and "generalists" began to collude with the "compradors" to provide supplies directly to foreign ships.

他们通常会索要200银元—300银元一次的服务费。 Secondly, the "general affairs" also combined with foreign businessmen to reap profits.

Under the public banking system, the public merchants (bureaucratic compradors) monopolized foreign trade, and all non-commercial merchants could only trade with foreign merchants if they obtained a license from the merchant, and the prerequisite for obtaining the license was to pay a large fee to the merchant. This is also an important reason for the imperial court's monopoly on foreign trade.

As a result, "the general clerk fraudulently used the name of the merchant to apply for a cargo license and distribute the goods to the shopkeepers." "Blatantly engaged in smuggling and tax evasion.

Third, the "general affairs" bypass the trade and provide goods to foreigners in person. The Qing government stipulated that foreigners who came to China to trade could only trade with fellow merchants (government compradors), and the prices of the goods they needed were set by the merchants. This shows that the Qing Dynasty was stricter in foreign trade control than the Ming Dynasty.

Pan Qiguan, a well-known merchant in the "Thirteen Lines of Guangzhou", once said that he himself had no right to change the price set by the officials, and that other foreign companies had already signed contracts at this price. It was precisely the standardization of management that made the Qing Dynasty ostensibly "closed off from the country", but in fact the government monopolized trade.

随着外国人来华贸易额的增加，外国人开始和他们所雇用的“通事”勾结在一起，让通事帮助他们采办货物，如此一来就形成了走私和偷税行为，因为“通事”可以通过其它关系，从民间采购物品转卖给洋人。

According to Ma Shi's Chronicle of the East India Company's Trade with China, Songyun served as the "Governor of Liangguang" in the 16th year of Jiaqing (1811) of the Qing Dynasty, because he accompanied the Magarni delegation back to Guangzhou. Therefore, the British asked a "generalist" named Ah Yao to help them go to Beijing and give gifts to the incoming "Governor of Liangguang" Songyun, like opening the door to convenience for themselves by bribes, but the matter was revealed, and Ah Yao was arrested and imprisoned.

There are more detailed records about this incident in Chinese sources: Ah Yao is Li Yao, a Chinese, a native of Nanhai County, Foshan, Guangdong, who "knows the Yi language"; in the ninth year of Jiaqing, he "served the Yi people and accumulated family property" in the British Kou Chen Yi Pavilion, and after returning to China, he came to the Tongshi Lin Guangguan to help his colleagues, "receiving a donation title"; after Jiaqing changed his name to "Li Huaiyuan" in 15 years, he donated (buying an official) the title of nine products, and Jiaqing entered Beijing in 18 years to donate the title of Zhongshu in the Chinese Book Department.

After that, Li Yao "still made friends with the Yiren", as tea gradually became a bulk of British imports, and Li Huaiyuan's acquaintance with the British Yihuachen hired Li Huaiyuan to "evaluate the tea on his behalf, and evaluate the value of the tea," Li Huaiyuan took the opportunity to borrow silver taels from the British, ranging from tens of taels to one or two hundred each time, and successively obtained a total of nine hundred taels, and used the money as his own activity funds, or used to purchase the goods needed by the Westerners at a low price and sell them at a high price.

From the end of the Ming Dynasty to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the "Tongshi" who was responsible for exchanges with European countries that were not Chinese tributary states was a special group of Sino-foreign economic exchanges during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Qing government forcibly incorporated them into its own foreign trade management system from the perspective of feudal economy and politics.

The Qing Dynasty adopted the "public bank system", which strictly regulated the composition and responsibilities of the "general affairs", making them responsible for transmitting government decrees to foreigners who came to China, and giving them the corresponding functions of managing foreign businessmen. In this way, the Qing Dynasty was able to avoid opening the "sea ban" and not receiving money, as was the case in the late Ming Dynasty.

With their linguistic advantages, these "generalists" were the first to feel the differences between Western cultures and Eastern and Western civilizations, and acted as a medium between the two different cultures, but they were more concerned about how to pursue advantages and avoid disadvantages, rather than spreading Eastern and Western cultures.

At the same time, the Qing government also proceeded from the political point of view, in order to avoid the rebellion of the Ming Dynasty's "widows", "pirates" and "ghosts", and to monopolize foreign trade to obtain high profits while maintaining its rule, so it adopted various means to minimize the scope of foreigners' activities in China.

Limited by the foreign policy of the Qing Dynasty government, in addition to racking their brains to think about how to evade taxes and coax or even blackmail foreigners' money, it is basically impossible to fully understand and spread Chinese and Western culture in both directions, because everything has to be on par with money.

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Haha, thank you for your attention, collection, recommendation, subscription and review of this book! As an author, I am very happy and honored to provide readers with a novel that meets the needs of the general public. As the saying goes, "Life is short, but the tip of the pen is slender." "Therefore, the road to cultivation is long, where to find immortality? There is nowhere to go for troubles, and read the people in the book! I hope that the novel "Heaven and Earth Let Me Go" series can bring happiness and insight to everyone!

This story is pure fiction, if there are similarities, it is a coincidence! Friends, the part-time job is hard, the time is urgent, the creation is not easy, like the collection, by the way, forward, want to know the plot? Next time I break it down! ("The book has its own golden house?") There are thousands of bells in the book? There is Yan Ruyu in the book"? Welcome to my book)